Photo opp: Hutongs of Beijing
Over the past few decades, Beijing has been intent on tearing down the old and putting up the new, an effort that only increased during the buildup to the 2008 Summer Olympics. Many of the city’s ancient hutongs – narrow alleyways in the city’s centre – were torn down and replaced with modern apartment blocks and roads.
The hutongs, however, have defined Beijing culture for hundreds of years and give the city its unique character. Who needs another city full of high-rises and strip malls and generic fast food chains? The challenge for Beijing today is to balance modernization with the preservation of its past – of emperors and peasants alike.
In Beijing, a hutong refers to an alley or lane, which in ancient times surrounded the Forbidden City. The main complexes, called siheyuan, are formed by four houses around an enclosed courtyard. Many were built during the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties as a way to organize the city around the royal palace.
Though many have been torn down in the name of modernization, you’ll still find hutongs here – some are hundreds of years old. Just head over to the Forbidden City or Tiananmen Square and you’ll find several starting points into the maze of alleyways.
It’s hard to find an accurate number (they vary widely), but by some accounts there are still 1,300 hutongs in Beijing and one-third of the city’s urban population resides there.
Wandering through the hutongs gives you a sense of ancient Beijing, but also how a large percentage of its population lives today – a lifestyle that is quite different from modern Beijing. Here you can see people playing a game of mahjong (Chinese chess) or hanging laundry or chatting with their neighbours, as generations did before them.
One of my favourite activities in Beijing is to wander the hutongs (and inevitably get lost). Hutongs vary in width and length, and twist and turn in all directions – the narrowest hutong on record is only 40cm wide. Most are too narrow for cars, so explore them on foot, on a bike or by pedicab. And don’t forget your camera – you’ll find plenty of photo opportunities, hopefully ones that won’t disappear in the next few years.
Photo Copyright @ 2010 VH Media
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